A method for manufacturing a pressure sensor is described, by way of example, from the publication "Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications '99, D. E. Ricken, W. Gessner, p. 126." In that method, a semiconductor pressure sensing element, which has, applied on a base, a semiconductor chip having a pressure membrane, is applied onto a lead grid, a so-called lead frame. A planar segment of the lead grid, a so-called die pad, functions in this context as assembly segment of the semiconductor pressure sensing element. Subsequently, the semiconductor chip is connected to contact segments of the lead grid via bonding wires. In a transfer molding process referred to as "transfer molding," which is also referred to as transfer forming, the semiconductor pressure sensing element is then embedded in a housing made of injection molding compound (mold compound). The pressure feed of the sensor, in this context, can issue from the upper side of the semiconductor pressure sensing element or through a pressure channel connected to the lower side of the semiconductor chip and provided in the base and the assembly segment. In carrying out the method, care should be taken in the injection molding of the semiconductor pressure sensing element that a pressure feed in the housing is kept free of the injection molding compound. In the method, this occurs through the use of a tool part, which is pressed, in the injection molding die, either against the upper side of the semiconductor pressure sensing element or against the assembly segment, depending on whether the pressure feed is to proceed from the side of the semiconductor pressure sensing element facing away from the lead grid or from the side facing the lead grid. After the injection molding process, the tool part is removed, as a result of which a recess remains in the injection molding compound, which functions as the pressure feed.
In the method discussed above, it is disadvantageous that the stamp must be pressed against the semiconductor sensor or the assembly segment of the lead grid. In response to the pressing of the stamp on the semiconductor pressure sensing element, the membrane of the semiconductor chip can be damaged. In response to the pressing of the stamp against the assembly segment of the lead grid furnished with a pressure channel, the assembly segment can move relative to the contact segments laid down in the injection molding die, so that between the assembly segment and the stamp a gap arises into which injection molding compound can penetrate.